Enzo Maresca strode into the Manchester City press auditorium five minutes early, addressed the room and took off his jacket. “It’s hot,” he muttered. This was no grilling, though, as the Italian set out his thoughts on the new job and sidestepped any tricky questions with the aid of a wide smile.Maresca is the man chosen to replace Pep Guardiola and, inevitably, the Catalan’s name was mentioned several times throughout the press conference, a reminder of the shoes that need filling.But there were several other subjects to address, such as Maresca’s acrimonious exit from Chelsea, the fact Real Madrid are working on a deal to sign Rodri and the never-ending process of the more than 115 charges levelled against City by the Premier League in 2023.Maresca was, of course, working as Guardiola’s assistant during that 2022-23 season, having already been City’s under-23s manager, and his familiarity with the club meant the words ‘Welcome back Enzo’ were emblazoned above him at his unveiling.During his very first answer, he said he felt ‘back home’ and explained that his City team will “always try to be aggressive off the ball, to control the game, to be the ones to impose our idea”.Here is what he said, and what it tells us.Following GuardiolaThere was quite a lot of Guardiola talk, understandably, and the former manager’s name will keep coming up for a while. It is a difficult situation because Maresca and Guardiola are very close — the Italian revealed here that they were together earlier this week, and have spoken a lot — but he will surely not want to be asked about, or reminded of, Guardiola every week.At the same time, he acknowledges he will have got the job partly because City “can see some similar concepts with the previous manager”.On Friday, Maresca was asked about following Guardiola, including how ‘daunting’ it must be, and about what he can do differently to put his own stamp on things.He also addressed, on a couple of occasions, the fact there are some high-profile examples of big clubs having issues when replacing long-term managers, specifically Manchester United with Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsenal with Arsene Wenger.“First of all I want to say that it is a privilege, because the club decided to go for me,” he said. “As I said many times, I consider Pep the best coach in the world in the last 20, 25 years, but again it’s a challenge. It’s nice, it’s a privilege.“Also the history, no? The managers with many years at the same club, after it’s always a struggle a bit, after Sir Alex, after Arsene, but also it’s a challenge to try to do the right things immediately for this organisation, for the fans, for everyone.”In a presumably unwitting nod to Guardiola, Maresca also gave away a nugget of information when discussing a completely different topic.“Since two or three months ago when there was a real connection with the club, I started to watch all of last season’s games,” he said, revealing when he knew for certain he would be getting the City job. He had been asked about City having a ‘dip’ last season and why that was, but explained that while he watched all the games, he was not close enough to know why.The 46-year-old was also asked how he may want to do some things differently to Guardiola, as well as keeping certain things the same.“There can be some similar concepts, but every manager is different. We see in which way we need to tweak some concepts, but I don’t think there are managers who can copy and paste other managers; it’s difficult. I can copy and paste, but probably I don’t see football in the same way as other managers. That’s why I don’t believe in copy and paste.”Ironically, Guardiola himself has previously said there is no such thing as copy-paste in football, although when Maresca was asked whether it would be considered a ‘failure’ if City did not win the title next season, he took it in his stride far more than Guardiola probably would have done.Pep Guardiola left in the summer after a decade at Manchester City (Dan Mullan/Getty Images)Chelsea departureWith a different set of reporters in the room, this could have been all about the circumstances of Maresca’s Chelsea exit. The Londoners have made it known that they blame the Italian’s mid-season exit for their struggles, and Maresca himself apologised to the club in a statement — later removed from his Instagram — when his move to City was finalised.He was asked about the nature of his departure from Chelsea, and he gave a big beaming smile as the subject was broached, and he took the sting out of the situation.“To be honest, I feel quite lucky in terms of my former clubs, Leicester, Chelsea; I think we did a great job in both clubs. The identity of the teams was clear, the success of the team was clear. And I feel very lucky to have been part of these clubs.“But now I think we are here today; that is the most important thing. Just about City. Nothing to add.”TransfersMaresca arrives at a time when City’s pre-season preparations are stepping up, and with Madrid trying to sign Rodri.When also asked about James Trafford and Jack Grealish, the new manager allowed for some reading between the lines, but on Rodri he talked as if he had no concerns about the potential for Madrid to swoop.“First of all, we have to say that around big players there is always speculation,” he said of the Spain midfielder. “I’m not worried about that. I think it’s normal. Also because they won the World Cup, he was the best player or one of the best players, and I think every manager wants to have Rodri because he’s a top player.“But now surgery on — I think — Monday. He needs a holiday. He needs to rest. He needs to recover, and then he will be back here with us.”There was another big smile when asked about Grealish, and it felt in the room that it was genuine, stemming from the fact the two got on very well and have stayed in contact since Maresca’s time as Guardiola’s assistant in 2022-23.But as much as he looked and sounded open to a rehabilitation for the winger, who fell out of favour under Guardiola and spent last season on loan at Everton, the content of the answer did sound very non-committal.Enzo Maresca and Jack Grealish embrace after a game between Chelsea and Everton last season (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)“At the moment he’s here. He’s a Man City player. I always say the same: in any club I’ve joined, if there are players that belong to the club, it’s my duty to try to coach them.“Jack, at the moment, is here. I’ve had a good relationship with Jack since I left; we’ve kept in touch. And the reason why is because he has a big heart, and he’s a very good guy. And we’ll see what happens.”On Trafford, the answer basically boiled down to this: “When the transfer window is open, now or in January, anything can happen. So we’ll see, but at the moment he’s one of our keepers.”The two worked together when Maresca was in charge of the under-23s, but a transfer has long been expected.The chargesA sign of how long this has all been dragging on, Maresca had not even started work at Leicester when the Premier League charges were levelled at City in 2023.“The only thing I can say, three years ago it was the Treble season, I was here, and it was the same words about this kind of problem. In three years it’s still the same, so nothing happened. I don’t have anything to say because it is something that is there. The only thing I can say is that the way the organisation is working shows how serious they are, how good they are, bringing titles and more things.”He was asked whether he had any concerns about the outcome of the hearing, which finished at the end of 2024.“No, no, to be honest.”